Ash receptacle for automobiles



July 28, -1970 T. H. EMAUS 2 ASH RECEPTACLE FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed March18. 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR moms H. EMAUS v ATTORNEYS July28,1970I T. H. EMAUS 3,521,938

ASH RECEPTACLE FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed March 18, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR THOMAS H. EMAUS BY M44 4Z% L 6 a fizz M ATTORNEYS United StatesPatent 'ice 3,521,938 ASH RECEPTACLE FOR AUTOMOBILES Thomas H. Emaus,Grand Rapids, Mich., assignor to F. L. Jacobs (10., Detroit, Mich., acorporation of Michigan Filed Mar. 18, 1968, Ser. No. 713,590 Int. Cl.A47b 88/00; B60n 3/08 US. Cl. 312246 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE cally spaced guide or rail members which are connectedtogether at longitudinally spaced points by a plurality of relativelythin resilient or spring-like elements. The uppermost rail member isfixedly secured to the inner surface of a side wall of the mountingstructure while the lowermost member, with the tray removed, is free tomove, the amount of movement depending to some degree upon theflexibility and construction of the resilient elements.

For coaction with the resilient elements on the mounting structure, theash box has an elongated, metallic and one-piece guide mounted on theouter surface of each of its upright side walls, in a longitudinal zonelaterally paralleling that of the guide units of the stamped mountingmember. When the component parts of the ash receptacle are assembled theresilient elements urge the lowermost rail or guide member downwardlyaway from the uppermost rail member to insure a tight or snug fittingengagement between the corresponding guide and guide unit. The guideunits are of molded nylon or other moldable plastic material known forits low co-efiicient of friction in sliding engagement with a metalmember. As an example, the guide units may be made from Delrin 900. Therail or guide members on either side of the mounting structure areformed on their upper and lower surfaces with a V-outline for aslidingly guiding engagement with mating formations integral with themetallic guide of the ash box.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION The improvements of the subjectash tray constitute a simplification of structural features illustratedand described in the copending application of Jack W. Blake entitled AshReceptacle for Automobiles, Ser. No. 682,453, filed Nov. 13, 1967, andassigned to the assignee of record. The receptacle of that applicationincludes a pair of metallic guide units, each unit being made from threeparts including a pair of elongated die cast members having a sinuous orundulatory wire spring acting therebetween to bias the lowermost diecast member downwardly away from the uppermost die cast member, thelatter being fixedly secured to the inner surface of a side wall of themounting structure. In contrast, the present receptacle includes a pairof integral one-piece guide units, each unit including a single plasticbody which supersedes the two die cast parts and spring required in theaforementioned application.

3,521,938 Patented July 28, 1970 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field ofthe invention As appears above, the ash receptacle is designed for.

Description of the prior art I am aware of no prior art disclosures morepertinent in nature than that of the aforementioned Blake copendingapplication and the patent to Blake, No. 3,355,232 of Nov. 28, 1967,which also discloses the feature of a two-part die cast guide unit, theparts of which are vertically biased away from one another, as by anelongated, mildly undulatory wire spring, for sliding action betweennon-metallic guide formations. The patents to Middleton No. 3,109,688 ofNov. 5, 1963, and Middleton et al. No. 3,285,683 of Nov. 15, 1966, showash receptacles comprising mounts and boxes generally similar as toproportion and size alone to the present receptacle; but they involveroller-type guide means having no pertinence to the type of guidearrangement herein contemplated. Hendricks 2,334,925 of Nov. 23, 1943,discloses a slide type of guide for an automotive ash receptacle, butlacks features of improvement of the slide means or units mentioned inthe abstract.

Otherwise, certain patents directed to drawer slides, such as Pratt No.2,265,927 of Dec. 9, 1941, Miller No. 3,059,986 of Oct. 23, 1962 andBarnes No. 3,092,429 of June 4, 1963, illustrate the use of elongatedslide guide means for a drawer or the like. None of the above, however,involves an integral non-metallic guide unit on one box or mountcomponent and a coacting metallic guide member on the other component.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The receptacle of the invention comprises anassembly of an ash box or tray of rather conventional configurationslidably and removably associated with a dashboard mount, also of moreor less known configuration. One of these members, illustrated herein asbeing the box, has an inexpensive elongated metallic guide of generallychanneled or C-shaped cross-section secured to each outer side thereof.However, these metallic guide members might also be applied to the innerside walls of the mounting structure, if deemed desirable. As actuallyshown, the mounting structure has a one-piece guide unit includingintegral resilient elements on each of its side walls; and the pair ofguide units on the respective box sides are formed for sliding coactionbetween upper and lower lip portions of the metallic guide channels.

Otherwise, the present ash box carries the usual type of manuallydepressable spring retainer, by which the withdrawing motion of the boxfrom the mount is limited, and upon depression of which a fullseparation of the box from its mount may be effected. In anotherrespect, not germane to the present invention, the box is equipped witha decorative front escutcheon piece blending with the contour andappearance of the dashboard when the receptacle is closed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view ofthe improved receptacle, with a near wall of its sheet metal mountingmember of the latter broken away, as on line 1-1 of FIG. 4, to permitviewing its internal guide means;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the ash box of the receptacle taken on theline 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the box, as seen from the directionof the arrow 3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a transverse vertical view, partly in section, through the ashreceptacle and taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a front elevation of the integral, elongated, non-metallicguide unit.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 66 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken on the line 77 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken on the line 88 of FIG. 5.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 4, the receptacle, generally designated bythe reference numeral 10, is mounted behind the dashboard panel area ofa vehicle by a generally inverted U-shaped mount or mounting structure,generally designated 12, which is suitably fastened by riveting, weldingor equivalent means to the vehicle body structure, in a well known waynot requiring illustration. Each of the parallel upright and laterallyspaced walls 14 of the mount 12 carries an elongated, one-piece,non-metallic guide unit, generally designated 16, features of which willhereinafter be described in detail.

As for the ash box or tray 18 of receptacle 10, its configuration,including transversely spaced parallel and upright side walls 20, bottom22, rear wall 24 and upwardly sloping front wall 26, is, as appears inFIG. 3, generally similar to existing ash box structures. FIG. 1 showsbottom wall 22 and front wall 26 as being equipped with an ornamentalescutcheon piece 28 blending in contour and finish with the dashboard,which piece constitutes no part of the improvement.

Similarly, the rear wall 24 carries a forwardly projecting, leaf springtype retainer 30 by which outward withdrawal of the box 18 is limitedand upon manual de pression of which piece 30 the box 18 may bedisengaged from mount 12 and withdrawn wholly for emptying. Further,front wall 26 has an integral, rearwardly disposed cigaret snub-out part32 which, like spring member 30 and escutcheon 28 is not a feature ofthe invention. In general, mount 12 and box 18 are fabricatedconventionally by stamping, with the union of certain margins or partseffected by riveting, welding or the like, all in accordance withaccepted procedures in this art.

Referring particularly now to FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, each of the side walls20 of the ash box 18 carries fixedly on its outer surface, in a zoneparallel with and somewhat above its bottom 22, an elongated, one-piecemetallic guide member 36 made, as an example, from cold rolled steel.The guide member 36 is shown as being rigidly afiixed to the box sidewalls 20 by means of a plurality of rivets 38, although other means mayserve the purpose. As best shown in FIG. 4, each of the guide members 38is of a generally C-shaped cross-section, including an upright wall orbody portion 40', which is brought by rivets 38 flush against the outersurface of box wall 20, and top and bottom lips 42, 44 defining achannel-like guide groove or way 46. FIGS. 2 and 3 show the guidemembers 36 as extending a major part of the front-to-rear length of thewalls 20, terminating approximately at the rear box wall 24.

FIGS. 4-8 inclusive best show the structure of the guide units 16attached to the inner sides of the two upright walls 14 of the mount ormounting structure 12. Each of these units 16 includes an upper rail orguide member 50 of elongated nature and being provided at the endsthereof with a pair of depending, relatively wide end legs integrallyconnected thereto. The guide unit 16 is secured to the mount wall 14- atthe end legs 52, as by rivets 54 or equivalent means as shown in FIG. 1.A second integral part of the guide unit 16 is a lower elongated guideor rail member 56, shown as being a trifle shorter than the distancebetween legs 52 of the elongated upper rail or guide member 50.

The rail or guide members 50 and 56, save at the ends thereof, are ofsubstantially the same vertical cross-section, as best appears in FIGS.4 and 6, although oriented oppositely in the vertical sense. Thus, eachhas a vertically facing, V-shaped groove or channel 58 extendingthroughout its length. The upper and lower rail or guide members 50 and56 of each guide unit 16 are spaced vertically apart and connected attheir opposing inner surfaces 64 and '68 respectively by a plurality ofresilient, spring-like elements or fingers 60. Specifically, four suchresilient elements 60 are utilized including elements near the ends ofthe members 50 and 56 and at two intermediate spaced points as shown inFIG. 5. The resilient elements 60 are each arranged on a 30 angle andhave a width of approximately .20" equal to the width of the railmembers 50 and 56 as best shown in FIG. 7. The thickness of each elementor finger 60 as represented by the letter X in FIG. 5 is .03". Thus therelatively thin elements or fingers 60 are constructed and arranged to'exert an outward biasing force when the rail members '50 and 56 areurged together in the direction of arrows yy of FIG. 5 when inserted inthe channel of the corresponding guide 36 as shown in FIG. 4. The insidesurface 64 of guide or rail member 50 is provided with a pair ofdownwardly extending protuberances 66 engageable with the inside surface68 of rail or guide member 56 for limiting the members 50 and 56 to apredetermined minimum vertical spacing relative to one another.

lEach guide unit 16 is molded in one piece from a suitable plasticmaterial such as nylon or Delrin 900 or other non-metallic materialhaving a desired limited frictional character in sliding engagement withmetal. The integral guide unit includes all the functions previouslyperformed by three separate parts as described in the aforementionedBlake patent application.

FIG. 4 shows the mounting and box members 12 and 18 as operationallyassembled to one another. The upper and lower lips 42, 44 of thebox-carried metallic guides 36 are received in the guide channels 58 ofthe respective rail members 50 and 56, and the latter are resilientlyurged apart by the resilient elements 60 which are initially compressedwhen inserting such guide or rail members into the metallic guides 36.Suflicient friction is present to hold box 18 stably in a partially orwholly retracted position, yet the anti-friction nature of the guideunits 16 permits smooth and easy shift of the box 18 in relation to themetallic guides 36.

What is claimed as my invention is:

1. A receptacle of the type described, comprising a fixed mountingmember, a slidable box or like member adapted for sliding withdrawal andretraction movement relative to said mounting member, and means slidablyconnecting said members for said movement, comprising an elongated guidefixed on one of said members, and an integral elongated one-piece guideunit of a non-metallic material having a low coefficient of friction onthe other, said guide providing aligned and spaced, longitudinallyextending guideway portions, said integral guide unit comprising a firstelongated guide component fixedly mounted on the other of said membersand having a portion slidably engaging one of said guideway portions ofsaid guide, a second elongated guide component in laterally spacedrelation to said first component and having a portion slidably engagingthe other guideway portion of said guide, and resilient means interposedbetween and integrally connecting and biasing said first and secondelongated guide components relative to one another for sliding action ofthe respective portions of said guide components relative to therespective guideway portions of said guide.

2. The receptacle of claim 1, in which said guide is of C-shapedcross-section to provide mutually facing guideway portions, said guideunit components being slidably mounted in said guide and being of across-section aifording V-shaped portions slidably engaged 'by therespective guideway portions of said guide.

3. The receptacle of claim 1 in which said resilient means comprises aplurality of relatively thin and flexible fingers interposed betweenopposing elongated surfaces of said first and second guide components.

4. The receptacle of claim 3 in which said fingers are longitudinallyspaced apart and are located near the ends of said guide components andat one place therebetween.

5. A receptacle of the type described, comprising a fixed mountingmember, a slidable box or like member adapted for sliding withdrawal andretraction movement relative to said mounting member, and means slidablyconnecting said members for said movement, comprising an elongated guidefixed on one of said members, and an integral elongated one-piece guideunit on the other, said guide providing aligned and spaced, longitudinalextending guideway portions, said integral guide unit comprising a firstelongated guide component fixedly mounted on the other of said membersand having a portion slidably engaging one of said guideway portions ofsaid guide, a second elongated guide component in laterally spacedrelation to said first component and having a portion slidably engagingthe other guideway portion of said guide, and resilient means integrallyconnecting said biasing said first and second elongated guidecomponents, relative to one another for sliding action of the respectiveportions of said guide components relative to the respective guidewayportions of said guide, said guide being of C-shaped cross-section toprovide mutually facing guideway portions, said guide unit componentsbeing slidably mounted in said guide and being of a cross-sectionaffording V-shaped portions slidably engaged by the respective guidewayportions of said guide, said guide being made from a metallic materialand said integral guide unit being made from a plastic material, saidresilient means comprising a plurality of relatively thin and flexiblefingers interposed between opposing elongated surfaces of said first andsecond guide components, said fingers being longitudinally spaced apartand being located near the ends of said guide components and at at leastone place therebetween, each of said fingers being inclined atapproximately a 30 angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of theguide unit.

6. For use in association with an automotive ash receptacle, a guideunit comprising a one-piece elongated body made from a non-metallicmaterial having a relatively 4 low coefficient of friction, said bodycomprising a pair of laterally spaced apart elongated guide components,and a plurality of relatively thin resilient elements connecting theopposing surfaces of said guide components and providing for relativelateral displacement between said guide components.

7. The guide unit defined in claim 6 in which said body is made from aplastic material.

8. The guide unit defined in claim 6 in which said resilient elementsinclude elements near the ends of said guide components and at one placetherebetween.

9. A guide unit for an ash receptacle comprising a one-piece elongatedbody made from a non-metallic material having a relatively lowcoefiicient of friction, said body comprising a pair of laterally spacedapart elongated guide components, and a plurality of relatively thinresilient elements connecting the opposing surfaces of said guidecomponents and providing for relative lateral displacement between saidguide components, said resilient elements including elements near theends of said guide components and at at least one place therebetween,said resilient elements being inclined at approximately a 30 angle withrespect to the longitudinal axis of said body.

10. The guide unit defined in claim 9 in which the inner surface of oneof said guide components includes means for limiting the relativelateral displacement between said guide components.

11. The guide unit defined in claim 10 wherein one of said guidecomponents is longer than the other of said guide components andincludes laterally extending mounting lugs at the ends thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,944,865 7/1960 Hamrnesfahr312246 X 3,185,530 5/1965 Reiss et al. 308-36 3,270,393 9/1966 Levenson.

3,275,396 9/1966 Hillson et a1 312-341 3,321,253 5/1967 Everburg 312322X 3,355,232 11/1967 Blake 312-246 X 3,362,749 1/1968 Clement 297412CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner 1U.S. c1. xlR. 312-242; 206-495

